FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Fresno County jurors began a month-long trial on Wednesday as they heard from attorneys on both sides in the murder case against Malik Nichols.<\/p>\n
“You’ll see throughout this trial that in addition to that path of destruction, he also left a trail of evidence,” prosecutor Kaitlin Drake said.<\/p>\n
“The evidence is going to show that there’s going to be important unanswered questions,” defense attorney Richard Beshwate said.<\/p>\n
Nichols is accused of gunning down Ibrahim Muhammad in 2023. The victim died in Southwest Fresno 25 minutes after dropping his wife off at work.<\/p>\n
There were 15 rounds fired from at least two guns.<\/p>\n
“The defendant, on that GPS monitor, was at the scene of the homicide at the time of the homicide,” Drake said.<\/p>\n
Drake outlined a tangled web of gang connections, calling it a case of retaliation following a killing months earlier. She told jurors there was a $10,000 bounty.<\/p>\n
“You’ll hear that at the time of this shooting, as of June of 2023, there was heated tension between those two criminal street gangs,” she said.<\/p>\n
Investigators believe Nichols was also behind another shooting three days earlier.<\/p>\n
“The evidence you’ll hear suggests that the first shooting was not about gangs,” Beshwate said. “It was about a rivalry over a woman.”<\/p>\n
Nichols has denied it all, pleading not guilty to murder, two counts of attempted murder, and firearms charges.<\/p>\n
Beshwate claims the suspect’s identity is still an issue.<\/p>\n
“Even if the investigators believe that the shell casings were from the same gun, it doesn’t identify the shooter,” he said. “A witness who was at the scene of that shooting described an individual that doesn’t match my client’s description,” he added later.<\/p>\n
The trial resumes on Thursday.<\/p>\n
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